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Backcountry snowboarder dies after falling headfirst into a tree well

A Burnaby man died in a backcountry tree well Sun., Feb. 23, becoming the second such death in the province since the beginning of the year. Amid ongoing avalanche warnings that have backcountry skiers taking refuge below the tree line, authorities say the man's death is a sobering reminder to backcountry enthusiasts to take caution near trees.

Photograph by: Tony Xu
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A backcountry trip for a group of friends ended in tragedy Sunday after a 29-year-old snowboarder from Burnaby fell into a tree well head first and suffocated in the deep snow, say Mounties.

It is the second such death since the beginning of the year, and amid ongoing avalanche warnings that have backcountry skiers taking refuge below the tree line, it comes as a sobering reminder to enthusiasts to take caution near trees.

The day began when the friends snowmobiled into a popular backcountry area near Pemberton, not far from the Miller’s Ridge Forest Service Road, said Sgt. Peter Thiessen, an RCMP spokesman.

Partway through the day, one of the snowboarders paused on a run and noticed his friend was no longer behind him. When the friend failed to turn up shortly after, the boarder hiked back up the mountain through the deep snow to look for him, said Thiessen.

He soon found his friend face down in a tree well. When he yanked the man out of the snow, he found him unresponsive, blue, and not breathing.

Despite attempts to revive the man with CPR, he did not recover. Emergency responders were called in around 5 p.m., but by that time, the darkening skies and high avalanche danger kept them from retrieving the victim. On Monday, search and rescuers, police and a coroner snowmobiled to the scene.

In January, John William Bauer, a 63-year-old West Vancouver man, died of similar causes on Whistler Mountain.

Brian Jones, a veteran mountain guide with Canada West Mountain School, said snowboarding, snowshoeing or sledding below the tree line may seem like a safer bet with the current risk of avalanches, but it comes with its own concerns.

“They think they are making the conservative decision by skiing the trees and they forget that there’s equally dangerous threats in the trees as there are avalanches in the open bowls,” he said.

He said it is important for people in the backcountry to recognize the hazards trees pose. Avoid travelling uphill of trees, especially those with steeply banked wells around their bases — coming close to one of them can trigger a mini avalanche that can pull people into the well and bury them.

People travelling in the backcountry should also take care to remain within visual or shouting distance of a buddy and to check in often with one another, said Jones.

A Burnaby man died in a backcountry tree well Sun., Feb. 23, becoming the second such death in the province since the beginning of the year. Amid ongoing avalanche warnings that have backcountry skiers taking refuge below the tree line, authorities say the man's death is a sobering reminder to backcountry enthusiasts to take caution near trees.

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